A Beautiful Mess
by KimuraMinami
Summary: Nami jumped in the middle of a discussion with no intention to reveal her most discreet affair with a certain member of the crew. ZoNa. Chapters finished!
1. Chapter 1: Where is your magical place?

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. I just like to ruin it in my own possible way.**

Chapter 1: Where is your magical place?

It was another usual day on the Thousand Sunny. What made it slightly different was that all the male crewmembers were gathered inside their cabin where a heated discussion was carried on, minus one reindeer for some reason.

"In a cupboard? That's almost too SUPER of you! You dog!"Franky exclaimed, playfully hitting Brook on the skull.

"Well, what can I say, Franky San? I had my days." Brook answered sipping tea from his tiny little teacup.

"But…wouldn't it be like 'a skeleton in the cupboard? " Ussop made a face.

"Just as you know, back then I have more than bones, Ussop San."

"How about you, little dude?" Franky asked. Ussop's face turned red.

"Well let's see, as far as I can recall, it was in the stomach of a giant sea gorilla…." Everybody looked at him in annoyed suspicion. Ussop jumped up from his hammock:" Okay, okay! That wasn't the truth. The truth is, eh…I…I haven't done it yet." Feeling others' sympathetic looks on him, he raised his voice in defense: "Hey! But I'm the only one here who's in a real relationship!"

"With a girl who has no idea that your bimonthly exchange of mails counts as a 'relationship'- yeah, of course."Sanji said sarcastically.

"Kaya knows what she's doing, all right? And what we have is way more precious than some meaningless physical act -" Ussop's protest was cut off by Franky. "Where is your place then, cook bro?"

"I can't believe I'm actually going to answer this…"Sanji said blowing a trace of smoke out of his nostrils."If you must know, it was in the kitchen."

His audience "ewwww"ed at him.

"- against the sink." He finished, only to receive another round of "ewwwww"s.

"You are even more gross than I gave you credit for, ero-cook." Zoro commented.

"Shut up shithead! What about you, huh? Where is _your_ magical place? Considering you being a romance-deprived women-repelling muscle head, I'm guessing-NOWHERE?"

Surprising even to Sanji himself, Zoro didn't bark back at this one. His face turned a light shade of red when he looked away. "As I said, I won't be joining any of these discussions." he reiterated.

"Why not?" Franky asked. It was him who had initiated the discussion.

"Maybe because this pathetic marimo is still a VIRGIN? Like Ussop is?" Sanji raised his curly brow in a sarcastic manner.

"No I'm NOT!" Zoro snapped." I'm just not comfortable talking about this kind of stuff in public!"

"Oh, oh, I got one!" Luffy raised his hand and yelled excitedly. "There's one time I jumped onto a girl's boobs! She's a mermaid, and she's HUGE! Does it count?" He had been naturally excluded from this discussion from the very beginning and was eager to chip in.

As usual, nobody bothered answering him. Ussop was more curious about Zoro's place.

"Come on, Zoro, you can tell us. Wherever it is, I'm sure it can't be worse than Sanji's anyhow-"Sanji kicked Ussop to shut him up before he turned to his green-haired nakama once again: "Yea, marimo, spit it out. I promise I won't laugh, even though I'm sure it's lame."

"It's not lame! Okay? It's just not as weird as you guys', it -"Zoro paused for a second before he gave in to deliver the answer that everybody had been holding their breaths for. "It was on the floor."

The rest of the male crew went silent. Until Franky sat up straight to clap his huge mechanical hands and concluded sarcastically: "Wow. We sure have a winner for today. "

"AHAHAHAHA!" Sanji burst into hysterical laughter. "I knew it! You are just as boring as I thought you are, marimo! Even your sex place is dull! On the floor? _Seriously?_ "

"Quit laughing, you idiot! At least I didn't do it where people eat!"

"Yeah! That's because you don't have that much of creativity!"

Both men jumped on their feet and were more than ready to fight when a female voice rose outside the cabin door.

"Guys? Can I come in?" It was Nami's voice. "Is anybody naked in there?"

"Zoro is!" Luffy exclaimed.

"WHAT-"Zoro shouted while grabbing his T shirt and put it back on. He had merely enough time to do that before the door opened.

"I'm not naked! I took my shirt off only because I was all sweaty from workout!" He punched Luffy for his misleading words.

"And I couldn't care less." Nami said walking in with an annoyed look on her face. "Why are you all in here? And why did you lock Chopper in the bathroom? I needed someone to help me with the helm and Robin told me you guys were…having a meeting of some sort?" she raised an eyebrow skeptically. Apparently to her, these guys were doing nothing but being stupid and lazy.

"Yea, we are. Franky made us discuss on where is the kinkiest place we had sex." Luffy blurted out an honest answer.

"What?" Nami couldn't believe what she had just heard. "Franky! That's _so_ disgusting! Why did you do that?"

"In my defense, I said 'SUPER', the most SUPER place one had sex in-"

"Still, ewwww!" Nami jumped high to whack the big cyborg on the forehead. "You are already middle aged, Uncle Franky! One should've outgrown this kind of stupid teenage boy talk by now! Let alone to provoke it! "

However, her lecture was immediately interrupted when Luffy innocently popped a question: "Nami, where is your place then?"

Nami almost choked on her retort.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" she had to let go of Franky because now the top priority on her to-do list was to murder her ever-increasingly stupid captain.

"Owwwwww-!" In the blink of an eye Luffy was already pinned down onto the cabin floor and Nami was hitting him for the best she could.

Sanji, looking almost equally furious himself, walked up and kicked Luffy on the head yelling: "You idiot! How could you have asked such an inappropriate question in front of a lady! There's no way that my innocent Nami san could have done anything filthy like…like _that_!"

"Why is it filthy? _You guys_ did it. Oh, so, is she a vir-"

"Don't you dare say that word out loud you stupid rubberman! You wanna be kicked to death? Huh?"

_These two are impossible._ Nami shook her head and signed. _There's only one way to stop this madness. _

She cleared her throat. After getting everybody's attention, she said in a calm, almost sweet tone:" No, I'm not a virgin, Luffy. "

Sanji looked devastated while others were merely surprised by her unexpected statement. Zoro stood up and declared: "That's it, I'm out of here."

"Wait,wait,wait! You are missing the best part!" Ussop stopped him.

"And as to my 'kinkiest place'-or 'super place', whatever you call it-" Nami made a face to show Franky how close she was to throw up on his term of wording. "I don't know, I don't keep track of these things. The last time I remembered…" she thought for a minute and gave a shrug," It was on the floor, maybe?"

The whole cabin froze.

"Oh…." After almost one minute of awkward silence, Ussop was the first one to react. His eyes widened as he turned to look at one of his crewmates. "Oh." He exhaled again.

"No, Ussop! DON'T GO THERE!" Zoro rushed to Ussop's side in an attempt to grab his shoulders so that he could shake them properly. There was an extremely terrified look on his face.

"Don't go where?" Luffy blinked, totally clueless.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Franky asked Brook.

"I'm thinking this is nothing but a very interesting coincidence." Brook took another sip of his tea as he beamed. "But who am I kidding, Franky san? Of course I'm thinking what you're thinking. Yohohoho!"

And Sanji was officially turning into a statue of stone.

"What? What did I say that was so funny?" Nami was confused, as well as offended by her crewmates' reactions to what she had just said. Ussop was snickering while Zoro was trying hard to strangle him. Franky and Brook were exchanging weird looks as if they were picturing something really obscene in their heads.

_Unbelievable._ It was their idea to discuss this in the first place and now they were judging her for discussing along? "Big news! I have sex! And I'm not afraid to talk about it! So go ahead and laugh all you want! " Nami yelled angrily as she stormed off.

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**Author's Note: Guess what? It turns out writing in English is still too hard and tricky for me. I have NO IDEA if I was using all the right words or putting sentences together in a correct manner. Aprreciate it very much if somebody can tell me where all the mistakes are(grammatically, vocabularily... I'm sure there's a lot, so knock yourself out.)**

**Oh and I had no original intention to make this more than a one shot. But the problem is that I've got a short attention span. I was practically bored and exhausted by this point, so I was like "screw it, I'm publishing this!" You can tell. The chapter name is very spontaneous.:)**** I don't have the slightest idea where the storyline is going. Or if I should continue writing it. Or not.**

**So let me know, Ok? =3=**

**Minami **


	2. Chapter 2:Why did you sleep with me?

Chapter 2: Why did you sleep with me?

By the end of the day, Zoro finally got a chance to corner Nami in the rear cabin when nobody else was around.

"What was wrong with you? ! You stupid woman!" He glowered at her face. He was furious for obvious reason. It was because of her careless remark this morning that everybody now thought they had slept together!

"What?" Nami blinked. She had no clue as to why Zoro was mad at her. If anything she should be the one to get mad. His grip on her shoulders was really starting to hurt.

"You! With your proud little speech of "I HAD SEX ON THE FLOOR"! What was _that_?"

"What do you mean 'what was that'? It was the truth." Nami stated giving a shrug, which made him angrier.

"The truth? !The one you had to broadcast to all over the world?"

"It's not that a big deal, Zoro. I said I had sex once on the floor. I didn't say it was with you."

In contrast to her calmness, Zoro was now in uncontrollable rage. He shouted:" Guess WHAT? They all figured out!"

"They didn't figure out. They took a guess and made a stupid assumption and that's all—wait! "She stopped her half-hearted speech. Her eyes widened. "Why did they make any assumptions? Zoro, did you…?"

"Yes I did." He nodded, still looking upset. "Right before you came in, I was just telling them I once had sex on the floor because apparently- _'it was the truth._'" He said in an ironical and yet annoyed tone.

Nami shoot him a very displeased glare. Sarcasm was NOT going to help.

She thought for a brief moment and then gave another shrug: "Well, just because you said you had sex on the floor and I said similar stuff, doesn't mean we did it together, right? People have sex on the floor-that's very common! I bet tons of people are doing it right now while we are having this conversation! "She actually felt relieved when she finished her self-persuasion. It was not like she and Zoro were busted. So what if some of her stupid crewmates got a little suspicious?

"Did you NOT hear me say "THEY ALL FIGURED OUT"?" Somehow Nami's composure irritated the swordsman to a greater extent. How could she be like this? Why wasn't she more freaking out, like he was now?

"Well, it was their problem to jump into conclusion too quickly. Guess if I care?" Nami said as she stuck her tongue out. "I don't!"

Zoro loosened his grip on Nami's shoulders and took a step back. He couldn't believe her. She was still smiling, which made him look even more absurd for being this angry.

"In fact-"he began, pulling off a stony face. "I think it's more of your problem, Nami."

"What? Why is that?" Nami frowned, unhappy about his sudden accusing tone.

"Your problem is that you always want the spotlight. You want control over everything and to outshine everybody. Back in there you could've said anything else, but NOOOOO! You just had to burst out details about our sex life so that you could make yourself sound cooler and intimidate them! That was just so typical of you, you self-centered bitch!"

The swordsman finished his accusation. Nami was stunned, to the very core of hers. She wasn't prepared to hear him say such harsh things and it hurt her.

"Zoro-"she breathed in, trying not to reveal what she truly felt at the moment. "If I'm everything you just described, why did you sleep with me?"

After dropping that question, she lowered her head and walked past him and out of the cabin door, leaving the swordsman standing in the shadow casted by the dim light, perplexed and bitten by his own words.

0-0-0-0-0

_Why did I sleep with her?_

Later that night, the swordsman thought to himself as he tucked in his hammock.

It was not very common for him to still be awake at this hour of the night, but he just couldn't fall asleep.

The words he said to Nami earlier today was replaying themselves in his head over and over again, along with her look-that look of suppressed anger she gave him when he uttered those horrible things right to her face without even thinking.

He didn't know what had got into him. He knew it wasn't Nami's fault and it wasn't sensible of him to have accused her like that. Wait, did he actually call her a _self-centered bitch_? And she didn't slap him hard in the face for that one because…?

_Because it truly hurt her._ The swordsman let out an almost inaudible sigh as the guilt flooded within him.

And he couldn't help but ponder on the question she left.

Why did he sleep with her?

It actually surprised him when he realized that he'd never for once, asked himself that same question before tonight.

It just happened. And it felt…natural. Almost too natural that he never doubted for one second that it might be wrong to have been physically involved with one of his longest known nakama.

The swordsman closed his eyes as the memory of their secret rendezvous flashed back in his mind.

_"Okay now, put it in."_

_"What? But I've -This is NOT FUNNY! WOMAN!"_

At that moment she was laughing like crazy underneath him but shortly afterwards she was moaning his name instead as he decided she needed to be taught a serious lesson on how men didn't wanna be joked about size.

Zoro cracked his good eye open, slightly surprised to find himself smiling at that piece of memory. Maybe that was _it_. Maybe that was why he kept seeing her nightly when he was well aware of all the risks of being found out.

She actually made him smile, in a way he'd never expected himself to do so. Being with her did not just feel good, but quite amusing as well. She practically teased him about _everything_- things which most of his previous partners were too afraid to even think about. And in return for her favor, he remembered making jokes about her being too loud or too demanding, which made her flip out and then give him a punch in the stomach.

Yes, she was the first woman who had dared to punch him during sex. And that punch really hurt. Maybe that was why it was so memorable, and probably why he blurted it out as an answer while he was sure he had had sex in some far less decent places.

As much as he hated to admit it, he actually remembered every time when he was with her. And deep down inside, he knew exactly why he was so furious today: it wasn't because of her being a self-centered bitch. It was because of him being a coward, afraid that this might stop if people found out about them.

The swordsman let out another sigh as he closed his eyes again, allowing himself to gradually drift off into a slumber.

The guilt subsided as sound sleep claimed him eventually.

0-0-0-0-0-0

The next morning Zoro woke up and found himself alone in the men's cabin. Judging by the dazzling sunlight permitted through the porthole, there was a good chance that he had slept in considerably.

It was weird that Nami hadn't come yelling to "wake his lazy ass up". Maybe she had decided to stop doing that after he called her a bitch last night.

The swordsman uttered a low grunt against that train of thought of his. No, there's no way he was gonna miss _that_.

He got dressed and walked out of the cabin, heading towards the kitchen in a slightly quicker pace. Hopefully that stupid cook hadn't discarded all the leftovers from breakfast-knowing that his captain had an enormous appetite, Zoro couldn't be optimistic there were any leftover to begin with.

However, he stopped at the doorway when he heard Nami's voice inside the kitchen-

"For the last time, **minna**, I did NOT sleep with that idiotic swordsman!" That all too familiar voice of hers announced. "In fact, he is definitely the last guy I would sleep with in this crew."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: I can't believe I actually came up with the second chapter. Is it because my boss is away for business this week? Anyway, I'm so proud of myself~ (crying off my mascaras T_T)<strong>

**Thanks to those who reviewed, or put this into their favs, or into alerts. And special thanks to those who have been texting me to discuss with me where the storyline is going. Since they prefer private messages, I 'd better not say their names out.**

**The other thing I'm worried about (besides those grammar mistakes bla bla bla) is, is this going too cheesy? I tried to put some drama into it but I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do. So let me know how much you hate it(or not), okay?**

**Oh and minna means "everybody". XD**

**Minami**


	3. Chapter 3:Who else is on your list?

Chapter 3: Who else is on your list? 

"For the last time, minna, I did NOT sleep with that idiotic swordsman! In fact, he is definitely the last guy I would sleep with in this crew."

Nami announced to her crewmates in a determined voice.

Her audience's reactions were varied. Sanji was beaming. Ussop rolled his eyes skeptically. Chopper stared at her with round watery eyes and asked childishly: "Why, Nami? I slept on Zoro's stomach once and it was very comfortable."

"That's not the kind of sleep we're talking about, little fellow. Matter of fact, it's-"Franky's explanation was cut off in perfect timing by a cough, kindly offered by Nico Robin, who continued: "that comes out a little…unexpected, Navigator san. I always assume that Swordsman san ranks no.1 or 2, at worst no.3 on your list."

"There's a LIST?" Franky wondered in excitement, "How super is that!"

Next to him, the ship's cook also showed his interest by raising his curly brow and looking at his two beloved lady crewmates attentively.

"Well, we all have a list- _the_ list, don't we, Navigator san?" Robin smiled.

"What? I never have one of those-okay, maybe later I'll write out a list regarding 'who is dead to me', and I'm sure Zoro will be ranking high on that one!" Nami pouted.

"Speaking of _the_ list, does anybody happen to see my tiny piece of paper which read ' Nico Robin'?"Franky said teasingly as he lifted his sunglasses up to his forehead.

"Highly flattered; but meanwhile, slightly violated I must say, Franky san."Robin chuckled softly as she sipped coffee from her mug in a graceful manner.

_There's some serious flirting going on between these two._ Nami narrowed her eyes incredulously. Unfortunately, a certain "knight of love" misinterpreted her expression of suspicion.

"No need to look so disappointed, my dearest Nami swan~~! "the knight assured her in an over-enthusiastic tone. "When I make my list, I'll make sure there's only ONE name on it! "

"Is that name 'womankind'?"

A sarcastic voice offered. Sanji turned around to see his annoying green-haired nakama standing at the threshold.

"What's your problem, lazy asshole?" the cook barked in irritation. "Why d'ya always have to ruin my precious moment with Nami san? Now go eat over the sink!" He tossed a dish of questionable cake towards the swordsman and the latter caught it with ease.

Nami averted her eyes as Zoro entered the kitchen and sat beside her at the dining table. After what happened last night, she assumed it was only fair that she wouldn't be talking to him or making eye contact with him for at least a week.

Sanji yelled something like "how could you possibly lose your way to the SINK you unbelievably retarded marimo!", but Zoro just ignored him and began eating his belated breakfast, which of course, made the cook angrier and even threaten to poison his next meal.

_Stupid stupid Zoro. God, he's just soooo getting on my nerves today._ Nami mumbled under her breath as she tilted her head slightly to admire Sanji's silverware collection on the table-well, they were something to look at. They were shiny, well polished and neatly arranged, which was probably good for her anger management…or not. Geez, just the way that baka wandered in with that thick green head of his, the way he took a seat right next to her without even the courtesy to ask first, and the way he poked randomly at that piece of cake with his stupid pair of chopsticks- who on earth ate cake with chopsticks?

_EVERYTHING. _Nami concluded inwardly with resentment-everything about Zoro just made her flustered with anger. And he didn't even begin to think about apologizing! _You think he could at least do that after he called you that name last night!_

Deciding this was more than enough irritation for her morning, Nami rose from her seat and announced to her friends:" Well, since our dining area is pretty much contaminated by _someone's _baka bacteria, I might just as well go outside and get some fresh-"

"Who else is on your list?" suddenly that "someone" popped a question, which was so out of the blue that some of his crewmates' jaws hit the ground even before Nami could react.

"…What?" she turned to look at him with slightly widened eyes.

"Your list." Zoro repeated. "You said I'm dead to you, I wanna know who else is on that list."

He returned her gaze with a more defiant look in his eyes, and he continued, "I'm thinking if there're enough people on it, maybe we can set up a club or something. Like 'we are dead to Princess Nami' club? Or 'we are lucky we're dead to Princess Nami' club? Never mind, I can work on the name later." He ended with a shrug.

"**Yabe**…" Ussop shrank himself down behind Franky's board back as he whispered. He could tell from numerous experiences that this was going to end UGLY.

"You watch your mouth when you talk to Nami san bastard!" Sanji shouted while Robin shook her head in a mildly disapproving manner. However, Luffy and Chopper were just staring at the scene with round innocent eyes trying to figure out since when there was a club and why everybody seemed to hate it.

For a brief moment Nami truly wished that Zoro could choke on that mouthful of cake he was still chewing. But then she reminded herself: _don't fall for this one, Nami. He's just trying to make you angry and you're not gonna let him get what he wants._

She breathed in deeply, and then slowly breathed out. She repeated doing this for a few more times. Good, anger management actually worked. When she finally opened her mouth to speak, she even managed to smile a little:" like I said you are dead to me, why are we still talking?"

With that being said in a sweet tone, Nami turned around and left the room. The rest of the Strawhats could only watch as she marched her way out like a pageant queen.

"Wow, that was close…"Ussop collapsed in his chair in relief from the aftershock.

"What was _that_, marimo? Next time you don't know how to talk to a lady, you just zip it! "

Sanji's lecture was cut short when Zoro threw the now empty dish back at him:" Thanks, cook. That tasted awful."

With both hands in his pocket, the swordsman then walked out of the kitchen, leaving the cook gabbling on how someone could be easily poisoned if he kept irritating the ship's one and only chef.

"I don't get it. Why do Nami and Zoro suddenly hate each other so much?" Luffy wrinkled his nose and complained to his crew. "And to tell you the truth, I'm not too happy about it. It feels very unsettling! Why can't Nami just smack Zoro on the head and get it over with like she always does?"

"I'd say-"Ussop felt constrained to lower his voice before giving his conclusion-after all, Sanji was still in the room, and that guy sure knew how to kick. " They did it." he said in a hushed voice.

"Yep, totally!" Franky agreed. Unfortunately he didn't feel the need to keep his volume down. "Even if they haven't done it, they are pretty close I dare say. I mean come on, just now you can cut the sex tension with a knife, bro!"

"**Yadaaaa-**!" Chopper shrieked when the sound of word "s-e-x" got into his ears and he fell off his chair in panic.

Robin sighed as she offered an extra pair of hands to lift the reindeer up before his head hit the floor:" Franky san-"she turned to the large cyborg. "You might want to be more careful with your wording next time. You know, it's not very…um, super to say something like that with the presence of minors."

"Are you calling me a pervert, Nico Robin?" Franky laughed heartily."How sweet of you to always know the nicest things to say!"

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"Urgh!"

Nami stormed into her charting room and violently slammed the door behind her.

Now that she was in her private territory, she could be however angry she wanted to. She threw herself into the chair, took a pen and a piece of paper, and began doodling in a huff.

It took her no more than 30 seconds to finish drawing a rough of human face on paper- in fact it was more like a circle with some disordered lines and dots here and there, poorly representing facial features, and it didn't even look remotely Zoro-like. But Nami didn't care. She just wrote "ZORO" in bold, capital letters on that face's forehead and then began stabbing it repeatedly with pen nib.

"I…hate…HIM!" She mumbled indignantly as she smashed that sketched face which she wished could be Zoro's. "Why's he always so annoying? ALWAYS trying to pick on me? That idiotic, swelled head jackass-"

Suddenly, a knock on the door interrupted her abreaction.

"Who is it?" Nami asked, her voice still cranky.

"It's me."

_Darn. _She dropped her pen on the table. It was Zoro.

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**Author's Note: I'm sorry, another chapter and they were still fighting. I guess I just miss their cute bantering too much since obvioulsy I'm currently deprived of that in both manga and TV.**

**Speaking of list, I guess some of you might have already known that Zoro ranked No.2 on last year's Origon list regarding "Who is the anime charactor you wanna marry most?" (With Sanji ranking No. 6 and Luffy as No. 8) So needless to say, my Zoro is officially the most eligible guy in One Piece,haha~~(I know, not mine~not mine~)**

**BTW, Nami was No.5 in girl's group and she was the only gal in OP who got to be voted enough to rank best 10 on that list. **

***"Yabe" means "too bad".**

***"Yada" means "don't" or "No".**

**So read & review, people!**

**Minami**


	4. Chapter 4:Are we good?

Chapter 4: Are we good?

"It's me."

Zoro's baritone rang from outside the charting room." Can I come in?"

Nami stiffened in her chair. She wanted to shout at the door to tell him to get lost, but then she remembered they were still in no-talking phase. So she bit her lower lip tightly and hoped he would go away before long if no answer was offered.

"I'll take that as a yes then." Contrary to what she had expected, the door opened. His green head popped in.

"Are you crying?" He asked sounding serious.

"Wha-DON'T FLATTER YOURSELF!" Nami's anger was reignited in an instant. She picked up her pen from the table and threw it at him. "Why should I be crying? F-for _you_? Who the hell do you think you are?"

Zoro tilted his head to easily dodge her pen attack.

"So we're talking." A Slight smirk crawled on his face.

_Shoot._ Nami immediately compressed her lips.

"You know, you hair looks funny when you are all worked up." He pointed out matter-of-factly.

"My hair's fine! And I'm not angry!" She yelled, her fingers exploring the surface of charting table trying to find something hard or sharp to throw at him. "Stop making it sound like you are capable of irritating me when you are not!"

"Scream louder. That's _almost_ convincing." He teased as he walked up to her. His gaze fell upon the table.

"So…you were destroying my face." he said, picking up her little piece of doodle and giving it a closer look. His eyebrow quirked in a slightly amused manner.

Nami almost bit her tongue in embarrassment. She had to admit that this might not be the most mature thing she had done for a while, but-

"Oh you deserved it." she muttered.

Zoro was trying hard to maintain a stern face and he almost succeeded in doing so as he suppressed a chuckle from escaping his lips. To be honest, he was rather disappointed when Nami walked away from their confrontation earlier. Okay maybe it wasn't really mature of him to have tried to provoke her into a verbal fight like that, but the way she turned around and left him hanging there? That was just rude!

_And this-this is certainly better._ He thought to himself.

"Can I borrow one of these?" He asked, picking up another piece of paper from her table.

"No. These are very expensive and for my mapping use only. I'm gonna charge you 3,000 belis if you don't put that down, NOW." she threatened.

"Put it on my tab then." He already owed her more belis than he cared to remember and he never really planned on paying off his debt. He shrugged and showed her his other hand. "And this?" He was holding that pen she had thrown to him.

Nami just snorted as a reply. She then watched as he wrote down "Nami" on that piece of paper and handed it back to her. "There."

"Oh good." She said sarcastically, "You actually made a list of self-centered bitch."

He sighed. He should've seen that one backfiring. "You know it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"It's…uh, my list." He swallowed a lump in his throat before continuing. "-of the woman I wish to sleep with."

Nami blinked. Was this…his unique way of saying he's sorry?

For a second Zoro was sure this was the most embarrassing moment in his entire life. But he was wrong; things _could_ get more embarrassing-

"That was _soooo_ flattering, Zoro~ Lucky me! "Nami exclaimed in a melodramatic tone, sarcasm written all over her delicate features. "oh wait, did you just steal Sanji kun's move-right after you made fun of him this morning?"

Yes he did. He was not proud of it either, but he didn't know what else to do–he might be a master of fighting with swords, or training with unbelievably heavy barbells,but when it came to women, he was so green that he had no other choice but to learn from that flirtatious love-cook-now that he had realized that, he was really ashamed of himself for doing so. Zoro put a hand onto his forehead to cover the blood vessels popping there." Don't make this harder than it already is, Nami. I'm trying here."

"Try harder." She didn't budge.

"…fine." He grunted through clenched teeth. "Look, sometimes I said things I didn't mean to and if any of those upset you-"

"Do specify." She demanded. Apparently she enjoyed watching him squirm.

The swordsman exhaled deeply in defeat. "I'm SORRY, okay? I'm sorry for calling you a bitch..."

"and for being a jerk?" She offered.

"...and for being a jerk." He repeated in a low voice, looking like he was ready to kill someone though. "So? Are we good now?"

Nami thought about this for a minute.

"Yeah…I guess." she said, giving a shrug." Apology accepted."

Zoro exhaled heavily, this time in relief. _Damn, women are troublesome._ He leaned over a little and pressed a swift kiss on her temple. "Then I'll see you tomorrow night on my watch, like we said before, all right?"

Nami didn't give an answer to that. She watched him leaving the room, looking relieved and almost equally exhausted while mumbling something under his breath.

It felt weird. She had thought she would feel better after squeezing that apology out of him; it would feel like she was winning-like every other time she'd won, but it didn't.

It just felt…not right. There was still some place unfulfilling in her chest. She couldn't figure out what exactly was the cause of it, but she didn't like it one bit.

0000000

"Ne, Ussop~ you know how sometimes I get all angry over nothing?" Nami absently said to her friend as they sat on the floor of Franky's Factory working on her weapon together.

"What? What did I do to you?" Ussop asked slightly panicked.

"It's not you!" She elbowed him," It's…never mind, just get this: I feel …this rush of anger rising within me, but I can't put it into words. I don't even know why I'm feeling this way."

"This isn't your period talking, is it?" Ussop glanced at her warily.

"No~~!"

"Hmm…" Ussop thought for another moment. "Is it because we made fun of you and Zoro? Nami, I swear it was just a harmless joke!" he raised both of his hands into the air emphasizing his point." In fact, I never think there'll be anything going on between you and Zoro like EVER!"

"Why? I'm not good enough for a muscle head like him? "Nami questioned. When Ussop put it in this way, it felt a little offensive.

"No this's not what I meant, Nami. I mean Zoro is all macho and crude and single-minded while you are …well, _you_. You are kinda like a princess on our ship. You need a guy who knows how to pamper you, to spoil you, to woo you with all these compliments and gifts-expensive gifts, like…like Sanji!"

"Sanji kun?" Nami wrinkled her nose, not too thrilled at Ussop's conclusion. "But I don't have any feelings for him."

"Woh hold on a sec Nami-are you saying that you actually have feelings for _Zoro_?" Ussop was surprised.

"OF COURSE NOT!" Nami's defense mechanism was provoked in a second. "Why would I have feelings for that…that stupid green head! He only annoys me! If that's the feeling you're talking about , then YES!"

"I'm just saying. Don't take your anger out on me… "Ussop shuddered visibly." Look, I'm glad you don't have any feelings for Zoro, okay? I care about you as a friend, Nami. I don't want you to get hurt."

Unfortunately, Ussop's "friend" statement only got him a punch on the shoulder. Nami was not at all pleased, let alone touched-

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? Why would _I_ get hurt- I mean hypothetically, if Zoro and I were together? Why wouldn't _he_ be the one to get hurt? I could be a heartbreaker, you know! "

"Don't get me wrong, Nami; Zoro is a good guy. And I like him A LOT. But…" Ussop scratched his chin, trying to find some suitable words to make his point clear. "-but he's not like me or Sanji, you know what I mean? We care about this stuff. All this girl and relationship stuff…okay maybe not so much to Sanji, but it _does_ mean a lot to me. I'm willing to sacrifice anything to make Kaya happy, even my dreams if I have to. But Zoro…I guess he is just too manly to give a damn to these kind of lovey-dovey things."

"You mean heartless."

"No. I mean manly." Ussop insisted.

Nami frowned as she pondered Ussop's words. There was that anger again, bubbling inside her chest, making her feel not only agitated, but somehow sad.

"I could really use some anger management right now."

She murmured under her breath as she excused herself from Franky's Factory, leaving a confused Ussop behind.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Another chapter with things going nowhere, do you hate it? Well <strong>_**I**_** hate it. My borrowed puppets don't listen to me. They said or did things I didn't plan for them. But I guess this happens to people who don't have a plan while writing-I mean _me_, no offense to you guys if you happen to do the same thing~**

**I might keep on doodling for another pointless chapter or two, or I might just leave it there until I find a clue on how to carry on the storyline. I know this sounds a little irresponsible, but who isn't?**

**Anyway, don't hate me~If you must hate me, do it secretly~**

**So, read & review? No? Okay...**

**Minami**


	5. Chapter 5: Why all this trouble?

Chapter 5：Why all this trouble?

"Sanji kun, you need help with those dishes?" Nami asked sweetly as she entered the kitchen.

The ship's cook spun around, too overjoyed by his angle's presence to continue his dishwashing.

"Nami swan is so lovable when she offers a helping hand~~! But I'll be damned if I let these greasy plates and detergents ruin her perfect manicures~~!"He chanted merrily to the air.

"Ano, I'm standing right here, Sanji kun. Who are you talking to?" Nami said waving her hand in front of the cook's uncovered eye, which instantly turned into a giant pink heart.

"My chivalry self."The hearty-eyed cook answered.

"…Fare enough." Nami nodded, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes. It sounded kind of weird but she did believe there was a huge part of chivalry self living in Sanji—that was, when his ero ero mode wasn't taking over control.

"Anyway, I _wanna_ help. "She said,"I'm not doing anything right now, and our course is already set for the next few hours. So maybe there's something I can do in here- you know, to keep myself occupied? "so_ I won't be just sitting there pouting about Zoro…Wait a minute, who said Zoro? Why does this have anything to do with Zoro? This isn't about him! It's about me being a nice person and showing kindness to Sanji kun if I want to, and I DO want to-not that I'm trying to prove anything, right?_

Convinced by the little voice in her head, Nami gave the cook a honey dripped smile which she knew was enough to give him a sugar shock."Please, Sanji kun, let me help."

"My dearest Nami swan, you are already granting me a generous favor by just standing there looking pretty. I can't think of anything else to ask from you~~!"The blond cook smiled back- in a love struck manner of course. "However, I'm sure I wouldn't mind if you decide to uh, unbutton that beautiful blouse you're wearing for just a little bit~~~~"

"THAT-" bringing a new bump onto the cook's blond head, Nami stated determinedly. "-IS NEVER GONNA HAPPEN, SANJI. I said _help_, not _strip_."

Though disappointed, the cook quickly regained his usual suaveness. "Actually, there_ is _something you can help me with, Nami san. I was just thinking about making some snacks for you ladies. Since Robin chwan is not around, it'll be nice if I can at least know your preference."

_How's that counted as helping him?_ Nami had wanted to ask, but knowing Sanji she decided to just let the matter drop. After all, the cook was too much of a gentleman to actually assign her any kitchen work. Now that she thought about it, he could be really sweet at times. He always treated her nicely- if he was able to stay in non-hearty-eyed state more permanently, she would've fallen for him ages ago.

"How about Mochi*? It's been so long since we have some Japanese dessert, Sanji kun." She suggested, giving the cook an expectant look.

"Sure, Nami san, your wish is my command." The cook smiled back fawningly. "And what flavor would my lovely Nami swan be expecting?"

"Umm…I'm thinking something light and healthy, like matcha*?"

"Matcha it is. I personally am not quite fond of making green-colored food cause that'll remind me of that shitty swordsman, but I guess I can always imagine smashing his head off while I grind these tea leaves. " Sanji explained as he took out a ceramic jar from his preserver. He opened the lid, allowing the scent of fresh green tea to give off.

"Wait Sanji kun—Maybe I can grind these for you?" putting a hand on the cook's lean shoulder, Nami offered in a sweet tone.

"Are you sure, Nami san? This can be quite boring job-"

"Oh I'll never get bored-"the orange haired girl smirked, "When it comes to smashing something green."

0-0-0-0-0

Zoro stirred and cracked open his good eye.

It was dark and he was alone in the crow's nest, still holding a dumbbell in one hand. He had to admit it was a fairly stupid posture to have fallen asleep in, not to mention he was also blowing a snot bubble from one of his nostrils.

He should be glad that no one was around to see it…or should he?

He blinked: So he was alone, without any company, which meant- Nami never showed up.

_What time is it?_ He looked out through the porthole, only to find that the moon had begun sinking into the sea. He'd say it was pretty late at night, or pretty early in the morning —he couldn't tell precisely. Observing the moon was more like Nami's thing—she was the navigator after all.

But either assumption was enough to tell him that she was either considerably late, or she had intentionally bailed on their appointment. Knowing Nami, he was almost one hundred percent sure she did this on purpose.

"Great. She actually made me apologize for calling her what she truly is." He muttered under his breath.

This was just typical Nami. _This_, was what she did—punishing him just because she wanted to, while he simply did nothing wrong.

When he confronted her about this in the morning, she'd better not brush him off with some lame excuse like "I forgot it".

0-0-0-0-0

"Whoops, I totally forgot it." She said, batting her eyelashes innocently. "I was working on my map last night, I guess I just sorta lost track of time. Sorry~"

Zoro narrowed his eyes. It was funny that despite the fact that he actually saw this coming, he felt all the same pissed.

"Cut it, woman. I'm in no mood for crap like this. What kind of game are you trying to play with me?" he asked impatiently.

"What game—it's not a _game_! " She protested.

"You're right, it's not." He nodded, "Cause it's not funny at all. I'm sick of it."

Nami inhaled sharply. Did he just say he was sick of this—sick of _being with her_?

"You are sick of it? What about _me_? I'm sick of _all~~ this~~_! "She snapped. Her defense mechanism was setting off big time. "All this hiding, sneaking around, lying to everybody's face about it, and—and pretending to forgive you while I know perfectly well you were just saying sorry to get laid!" She bit her lower lip the moment she realized what had come out of her mouth, but it was too late.

A mixed expression of shock and anger flashed across Zoro's face.

Through gritted teeth, he repeated her words in a very slow tone. "So you think I apologized to you just to _get laid_?"

Nami was at a loss for what to say. What she had just said was mean—even to her own ears, but somehow taking it back would not be an option.

"Well…what else could it be?" Despite herself, she kept pushing further, with the faintest hope that he would deny it immediately and tell her she was wrong.

But Zoro didn't deny.

He glared at her pretty face, not speaking for a long time.

Then he let out a low sneer, like what he was hearing was ridiculous to him.

"Maybe you're right. It's not like you are the only woman I know, Nami. If I just wanna have some sex, why'd I have to go through all this trouble? "He gave her a slight smile—more like a slight quirk of the corner of his lips, just for the gesture itself.

"Wha…what do you mean?" Nami stuttered. Her heart began to sink as she saw his lips continue moving, uttering the most hurtful words she'd ever heard from him—

"It's not worth it. I'm out."

With that being said Zoro turned around, walked straight through the doorway, leaving the cabin door open.

A stunned Nami stood in the middle of her charting room, staring at his back until it disappeared down the end of hallway.

Realization slowly sank into her being: Did Zoro just…end things with her?

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: I <em>almost<em> gave up on this. How I wish I could just write this in Chinese and paste it into Google translation and let it do the job for me~! Yeah I know, it won't work...I blaim the developer of Google translation (or on-line translation service in general)for not being able to provide coherent sentenses.**

**To ****StarKiss666 : it's like you can read my mind or something...I was gonna let Nami bail on her date with Zoro anyway but haven't got the chance to write to that part, and you've pointed it out before I finished writing this chapter. So I was like " Am I that predictable?Oh no~~~" when I saw your review. Still, thank you. XD**

**And fmdevil san, you must've guessed this. ****All my friends say I'm too easy to read. :( (Sorry, I'm just being whiny cuz I know you are really nice person and you would probably say things like: no you're not~~ So it's really just me poking at your soft spot. XD )**

**Notes about Japanese food (just in case):**

**Mochi-a kind of sweets/dessert/snack, made of glutinous rice, usually has sweet-flavored stuffing like red beans or matcha or chocolate. **

**Matcha-green tea, in high quality( not really).**

**R&R pls~~!**

**Minami**


	6. Chapter 6:How it all started

Chapter 6: How it all started...

There was nothing more pleasing to the eye than the scene of a fair lady grinding tea leaves in a graceful manner.

It didn't matter that she wasn't wearing a kimono or doing up her hair in a bun, which would've so wonderfully exposed the back of her neck when she lowered her head; It didn't matter either the look on her face was by no means soft or gentle, or the way she was moving was anything but graceful— in the vision of Sanji's pink hearty eyes, everything about his Nami swan was just perfect.

However, reality was brutal—

"Damn it! This thing isn't working right!" The orange-haired girl screamed irately and threw the mixer down to the floor. It broke into pieces.

Sanji let out a small sigh. It pained him to admit it, but in actuality, Nami was a monster in his kitchen—a beautiful monster of course, but still, a monster.

"Nami san…" he hesitantly opened his mouth to suggest, "Maybe you should get some rest. You looked tired." And if she kept breaking things like that, they'd be running out of plates and bowls by their next meal.

"No I'm good." Nami said shortly, not even looking up.

"But—"

"I said I'd help you grind these tea leaves so that's what I'm going to do right now! Quit bugging me!"

…okay, maybe it was her time of the month, which explained why she was so agitated today. The cook let out another sigh. His Nami swan was still lovable when she was angry. He just needed to admire her beauty from some distance.

"Nami san, I'm sure you'll hate it if I smoke in here. " Standing up, he said politely as he took his pack of cigarette out of his suit pocket, flipping the lighter between his fingers. "If you excuse me, I'll just go outside and—"

"Go ahead, I don't care." She cut him off shortly.

Sanji furrowed his curly brows in concern: Something wasn't right with his favorite navigator. Her voice was shaking. So were her shoulder blades.

Instead of retreating, the cook walked up to her.

"Nami san?" he put a hand on her shoulder and asked softly. "Is everything alright?"

The girl didn't give an answer. She kept her face down, eyes casted on her knees.

"Just go… ok?" She pleaded in a low voice.

"I won't until you tell me what's going on. You're starting to make me worry, Nami san." Sanji insisted. He had to give her shoulder a gentle squeeze to make her look up at him. And when she did, his eyes grew wide at what he saw—

"You are welling up!"

"No I'm NOT! " Nami immediately denied, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. "This is all _your_ fault! Your cigarette…your smoke's stinging my eyes!"

Slightly taken aback, the nicotine addicted cook stared at the cigarette between his index and middle fingers: He hadn't lit it up yet.

"My apologies, Nami san. I was being rude." his next move was to toss the whole pack of cigarette into the trash bin, along with the one in his hand.

"I shouldn't have smoked in front of a lady." He said staring into her still watery eyes, his voice genuinely apologetic.

Nami looked back at her blond haired nakama without blinking. She was afraid that if she did blink, she might not be able to hold back the tears anymore. Her vision was still blurred, but she tried to look at him with grateful clarity: That was such a sweet lie he had made up for her sake.

And he was such a sweet guy. Especially compared with what _someone_ had said to her to make her eyes water in the first place, Sanji's gesture was almost too nice to be true.

Nami sniffed a little. Trying not to let her embarrassment show, she told him: "I didn't cry." and then repeated what she said in a somewhat childish tone, as if trying to convince him (as well as herself)." I didn't."

"And I wouldn't say you did." Sanji gave her an understanding smile.

"It's just …grinding these tea leaves is so frustrating...but I'm gonna do it anyway." She picked up where she left with the mixing bowl and glanced at the chef warily from the corner of her eye." I can still do this, right Sanji kun?"

"Sure." Sanji nodded. "As long as it's in my kitchen, you can do whatever you want, Nami san."

0-0-0-0-0

He did the right thing.

Repeatedly lifting up the 10 ton weight in his grip, Zoro thought to himself.

It had been 6 hours since he broke things off with Nami. He figured if he kept telling himself that for long enough, it might start sounding true.

So, all in all, he did the right thing.

This physical intimacy he had shared with her had already become more complicated and emotionally drained than he could handle. He hated to admit it, but he found himself constantly getting confused, frustrated, or even irritated with how things were going between the two of them.

This wasn't who he was. He wasn't some sort of pathetic lover boy who'd easily be pushed around by some girl. Unlike that ero-cook who had basically no self-respect in this regard, he had boundaries.

In fact, he was doing just fine with his life before that manipulative bitch decided to barge in, pull off some stupid game that he didn't even know how to play along, and make his life miserable.

Flashback

"Gotcha!"

A mikan hit him square in the face. For a moment he was sure his nose bridge got broken.

"**Ite…** "Rubbing his aching nose, he scowled at the assaulter."What the hell did you do that for, witch?"

There she stood in the midst of her little orchard; with both hands on her hips, her long orange hair fluttering in the sea breeze.

"What did I say about you walking around shirtless, Zoro?" she questioned, voice dangerous.

"…that I look good?"

"You wish!" She screamed. "I said IT'S VULGAR AND YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THAT ANYMORE!"

"_Not allowed_?" This was ridiculous. If it wasn't for the fact that his nose bridge still hurt he might actually laugh out. "You are not my boss, woman. What I wear or do not wear on my own time has nothing to do with you."

"People don't wanna see _that_!" She held out a finger, pointing towards his bare chest. "It's visual pollution!"

"What people? You mean _you_?" he quirked his eyebrow in a sarcastic manner. "I'm sorry, find yourself something else to look at, Your Highness. It's a hot day and I'm staying this way." He stated as he walked into the shade of one of her mikan trees. Dropping down and lying on his back, he allowed his eyelids to grow heavy. It was actually a cool place to take a nap in—it could be better though, if only some annoying woman wasn't nagging beside his ears.

"You can't sleep here!" He felt his side kicked by her pointed shoe toes. "You can't sleep in my place like this!"

"Last time I checked, this is _everybody_'s place. Just because you planted some trees here doesn't make it your place." he yawned, not bothering opening his eyes.

"At least put something on, psycho nudist! This—"She accused."—is sexual harassment!"

"…says the woman who wears bras outside in public." He mumbled under his breath.

"I can hear you!" she was screaming again. "This is a bikini top, moron! People are _supposed_ to wear them outside. Don't you have any sense at all? ...Don't distract me! ...anyway, my point is you can't just lie half naked under my trees! They'll feel violated if they have souls…You know what? Forget about it, it's my fault to talk about souls in front of a soulless being such as you…"

She kept on ranting for a while. He ignored her for long enough, till her voice finally trailed off. Or he just tuned her off in his head, which was a wise thing to do and he should have done it a lot earlier.

Just as he was about to embrace his usual sleepiness, he felt something soft pressed on his lips.

Wide awake and stunned, he snapped open his good eye and sat up: "Nami?"

Did she just...kiss him?

She pulled back forcefully, apparently caught off guard. He stared at her face, which was now so close to his and was wearing an equally shocked expression.

"I thought you're… why aren't you asleep!"she accused, raising her hand in an attempt to slap him in the face.

He caught her wrist with one hand. And when she tried to lift her other hand to attack him he caught it too. "Hey hey, stop it, stealthy kisser, that's not gonna undo what you did—"

"I—I HATE YOU!" She squeaked, struggling in his grip. "You tricked me!"

He certainly did not trick her. In fact, he'd never expected she would've kissed him in his sleep. Yet somehow, looking at her now crimson colored cheeks, he couldn't help but do the only thing that seemed right at the moment, the only thing that could shut her up.

He leaned over and kissed her full on the lips.

End of flashback

That was the first time they had kissed. And on that very day they did a lot more than kissing. Did she have a crush on him? Was she merely acting on impulse? He never knew. He never asked.

Technically, she started this. If there was anyone who had been playing a trick, it was her. She basically tricked him into this whole thing and then all of a sudden she was like "I'm sick of ALL THIS" .

Letting out a disgruntled sigh, Zoro put down his weight. He just couldn't concentrate on his training. That devil woman had reduced him to a very easily distracted man.

"Snack time, my dearest Robin chwan~~~~~~! And you shitty bastards are all invited to bite me!"

Great, the cook, yelling crazy stuff like he always did — just the last thing he needed right now.

Zoro thought indignantly as he climbed down the crow's nest jackladder. Seriously, what's wrong with that retarded cook today? Didn't he use to call out Nami's name before everything else?

Unless... did something happen to that woman? She wasn't on hunger strike or hiding in her closet just because he broke things off with her, was she?

_Damn that bitch. _Why couldn't she for once, stop making him worry about her?

He cursed inwardly as he picked up the pace towards the kitchen.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>** I was just wondering… maybe I should write this beforehand, something like "WARNING! Some Sanji Nami moments", cause you know, some people might hate it.**

**For the record, I don't ship SanjixNami. I thoroughly and utterly adore Sanji but I just can't see him together with Nami. **

**To Blaeed: Can't reply to you via PMs. So there: Thanks~~ I'll try to stick around and maybe finish this some day. :)**

**Note on Japanese part: ******"Ite"- It hurts. Girls don't usually say it though, they say "itai" instead.****

**So...R & R, people~ ****Tell me where this is going cuz I honestly have no idea.**

**Minami**


	7. Chapter 7: A collaboration of love

Chapter 7

There she was, in Sunny's kitchen, standing right next to that ero-cook and holding a sterling salver in her hand.

A pink apron surrounded her slender waist. It had a funny pattern of cartoon panda on the front—Zoro gritted his teeth as he recalled that hideous piece of garment actually belonged to that damn cook.

In fact, he didn't even know which pissed him off more: the fact that she was wearing the cook's apron or that radiant smile plastered on her face—she looked as if what had happened between them hadn't affected her at all.

He stared at her, HARD. She didn't stare back. Somehow she managed to look around the entire galley but not him.

"Oh I smell food~~~~~~!" Luffy exclaimed while literally bouncing through the doorway, followed by a mildly amused Nico Robin, an equally amused Brook who had Chopper clinging to his walking stick-slash-sword, and a very honest Ussop who was busy briefing Robin, Franky and Brook about how disastrous Nami's cooking had been before Sanji joined the crew.

"I'm telling you guys, it's a miracle that we even made it till Sanji came along—" Ussop stopped mid-sentence staring in horror at the salver in Nami's hand. "Oh no…she's doing it again, she's trying to poison us, isn't she?" He whispered to himself.

Luckily Nami didn't hear him. Neither did Sanji. He already jumped over and started fawning upon Robin.

After telling the dark haired woman how great she looked this particular afternoon, the cook turned straight to the orange haired girl standing next to him, the pink heart in his visible eye never faltered a second. "Now that Robin chwan is here—shall we begin, Nami san?"

Nami nodded: "Yes, Sanji kun."

Zoro made an uneasy sound through his throat. _What the heck are these two planning on?_ He hated to be on the side of not knowing.

"Behold, minna—" with that Nami slowly removed the white cloth covering the salver and revealed what's underneath.

"Mochi!" Luffy cheered out. "And they are GREEN!"

"Very observant, Luffy, they are matcha flavored. "Nami said in a slightly mocking tone. "I made the stuffing and Sanji kun molded them."

"I see. That actually helped explain why they are heart-shaped." Robin commented with a slight smile on her lips. She seemed quite amused by the idea of a plateful of green hearts.

"You and Nami-sis made these together?" Franky laughed while patting the cook on the back. "Way to go, cook-bro!"

"Yes! The first batch of mochi Nami san and I made together! "Sanji exclaimed blissfully whilst twirling over Nami like a love hurricane." Nami swaaaan, what shall we call it? What shall we call it, huh? It deserves a name, an official one, don't you think so? Oh I know! "he raised one hand to eagerly answer his own question before anyone else could voice their opinion:" Sanji and Nami's collaboration of LOOOOOOOVE~~!"

A giant sweat drop rolled down Nami's forehead.

"…you know what, Sanji kun? Let's…don't do the name thing." If it were some other time Nami believed her fist would have been planted on the cook's head by this point. But he had been so incredibly nice to her today; maybe she should let him have this one?

"Just stop spinning and let everyone have a taste of …uh, our collaboration, okay?" letting out a defeated sigh she said.

"I CAN DIE A HAPPY MAN ANY MINUTE NOW!" too absorbed in his own love-cook world, Sanji totally ignored her words.

_He should really do that—die a happy man now, or just die._ Zoro thought resentfully. So what if ero-cook and Nami had made some stupid food together? It didn't mean anything. Just two innocent crewmates who happened to have worked on the same thing at the same time and place , like the other day Ussop and Franky working on their newest cola-operated shooting weapon together, it's not romantic, it's not even close to being romantically inclined…right?

Zoro looked at Nami, trying to find some prove in her eyes to back up his theory. But again the girl quickly looked away.

Nami tightened her grip on the thin rim of her sterling salver. She knew he was staring. She could feel the heat of his angry gaze piercing through her body, but she just couldn't handle looking back at him at the moment.

She hated him. It was a known fact to the crew that she always hated Zoro for being too lazy, too stupid or snoring too loudly on deck. But this was the first time in her life that she truly hated his guts.

No man in the world was allowed to reject her like that. In fact, no man had before. She just couldn't believe that of all people, Zoro was the one capable of making her feel the way she was feeling right now—angry, rejected and humiliated.

Just hours earlier, he'd almost made her shed tears in front of her crewmate. That was by far the most embarrassing thing that had happened to her and there was no way she could easily forgive herself for ever doing so, let alone to forgive him.

Subconsciously Nami moved a step closer to have herself semi-hidden behind Sanji's back. Even in the midst of self loathing she knew better than to face Zoro all by herself. She needed someone to hold onto. This wasn't some childish competition of who's over who first. _This_—she reminded herself: was war.

Luckily she had Sanji. The guy truthfully and utterly worshiped her and would be more than happy to serve as her safety cushion whenever she was experiencing a setback in her ego —Nami sorta felt bad about using Sanji without his knowledge, but nonetheless she moved another step towards him until their clothes were almost touching.

For once her cushion appeared to be otherwise preoccupied. "Stop stealing Nami swan and Robin chwan's food you idiot! What part of FOR LADIES ONLY don't you get?" the cook berated aiming a kick at Luffy's disappointed face.

"Ehhh? But you said we are all invited to bite you—"

"Yeah! Bite me! "The cook challenged.

"Why? You are not food. I know we agreed on eating Chopper under very emergent circumstance, but you…?" Luffy looked genuinely confused.

"Aaaah! Don't eat me!" Chopper shrieked.

Nami sighed. This conversation was getting weirder and weirder with every passing second. "Just let him be, Sanji kun."She said, gently placing a hand on the cook's lean shoulder to calm him down."We both know you're gonna yell at him for 5 minutes and then let him be anyway."

Zoro stared fiercely at her hand: did she do this on purpose? If she thought this would make him jealous she'd better think again! He was NOT jealous, not even one bit. He just wanted to chop her little hand off so that he'd have something to throw at the damn cook!

"Fine." Sanji conceded." If Nami san said so, then Rubber can eat."

"Yoshi!" Luffy cheered.

"Everybody can eat." Nami added.

Very soon the strawhats began to enjoy their afternoon snack together, for some reason minus one sulky swordsman who stood by looking as disinterested as he could.

Luffy was mercilessly chewing on about a dozen mochi in one mouthful, while Ussop took an experimental bite and looked up:" This isn't bad at all! I'm impressed, Nami." He then called out to the swordsman:" Hey Zoro! Come have some. Her cooking is actually getting better than ya thought!"

"Not hungry." Zoro simply answered.

"Is that so?"Robin smiled.

Not bothering to utter another word of explanation, Zoro turned around and exited the kitchen.

"What's his problem today?" Sanji snorted.

"Yeah! He isn't sick is he?" Luffy seconded. "He just turned down FOOD!"

"He's not you!"Ussop pointed out.

"Maybe he just can't eat green colored food." Franky tried to reason. "It kinda make sense, don't you think? Say Chopper, I bet you will never eat a tanuki, right?"

"I'm a REINDEER not a tanuki!"

"Betcha I can eat rubber!" Luffy grinned proudly.

"You eat everything!"

Nami tried to laugh along with her nakama as usual. Their antics had always been entertaining. But somehow she found herself constantly peering at the doorway, disappointment weighed on her mind when she saw no one there.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note: Sorry if that was an abrupt halt. It's Friday morning and I'm typing this in my office still refusing to meet all the deadlines at my work. (Yeah I do feel guilty, why do you ask?)<strong>

**Thanks to you guys, I actually have an idea as to how to carry on the storyline (I might change it though). So BIG CYBERHUG, my sweet sweet reviewers! You guys are so helpful~!**

**If any of you have difficulty remembering Sanji's apron, check this out:**

25**.media****.tumblr****.com****/tumblr_m3g634Arnn1rsd67fo1_400****.****jpg**

**See ya next time:) R&R pls~~!**

**Minami**


	8. Chapter 8:A slip of the tongue

Chapter 8: A slip of the tongue

As it turned out, he was the one on hunger strike.

It was way past dinner hour when Zoro woke up in his usual napping spot. He had slept through another round of the cook's bragging about his "collaboration of love with dear sweet Nami Swan", which Zoro hadn't planned but was all the same glad that he had done so.

True he was hungry; his stomach was making all sorts of unhappy sounds to remind him of that fact. It was just that he didn't think he could deal with Sanji or his hideous food right now.

Just now in his prolonged nap, Zoro had had a very vivid dream about kicking that flirtatious cook in the ass and tossing his skinny form overboard. And if he'd run into that hearty-eyed moron now or hear another word of his stupid bragging, he might not be able to restrain himself from actualizing that dream.

Rubbing his growling stomach, the swordsman slowly rose to his feet and began walking back towards the male's cabin. Although he wanted badly to stop by the kitchen to grab some dinner leftover or a bottle of sake to pass for the night, his pride was telling him not to. After what happened today, he refused to set foot in a place that Sanji had referred to as "where his and Nami swan's love set sail"—not that he felt threatened by any of the craps that delusional cook had been saying nonstop since this afternoon, he just thought they were quite annoying and that was all.

Twenty minutes later, instead of passing out in his own bunk, Zoro found himself helplessly wander about the below deck like a lost lamb. He supposed when people were this hungry and dizzy it was normal for them to get lost in a ship that was as large and bizarrely laid-out as the Thousand Sunny was.

He saw the light was still on in Franky's Factory and decided to go in and say hello, and perhaps subtly ask the shipwright for some quick directional tips without the other guy laughing at his face.

With that thought in mind, the swordsman walked to the open door. However, it wasn't Franky's voice that greeted him first. It was Ussop's.

"Roses! You should definitely send her roses!" the long nosed boy was shouting excitedly at the top of his lung.

_Roses? _Zoro stopped at the door side in curiosity. Why were his two machinery-obsessed crewmates talking about flora in the middle of the night?

"Really?" Franky was arguing. "But aren't roses a little too…tacky?"

"No they're not! Girls love roses!" Ussop countered.

"Maybe your girl loves them, but mine is a little…uh, outgrown for that kind of cheesy gestures, don't you think?"

"I'm sorry, she's not your girl yet. And she won't be until you make some actual, romantic move. Let's face it, you certainly can't win her heart using one of your nipple lights!" Ussop said sarcastically.

Yeah…nobody liked a nipple light. Zoro didn't mean to eavesdrop, but he had to agree with Ussop on this one. Who was the girl they were talking about anyway? Robin?

"Look Franky, you want my advice or not? I'm speaking from experience—_successful_ experience, okay? Or do I need to remind you AGAIN that I'm the only one onboard who has a _real_ girlfriend?" Ussop stressed. His tone dripped with arrogance. "Just trust your love expert Ussop and go get your girl some flowers, will ya!"

Even though Zoro couldn't see the expression on Ussop's face from outside the door, he could imagine how cocky the long-nosed boy must look right now.

The swordsman shook his head slightly annoyed. Since when did Ussop become a love expert? He was so gonna miss the days when Ussop was just "Great Captain Ussop".

While inside the factory, Franky seemed sorta convinced by the very inspiring speech his love expert had just delivered.

"Even if I want to, how should I find any roses in the middle of the sea?" he asked.

"Hello? Robin has a flower bed!" Ussop reminded him.

"But—wouldn't it be like…stealing from her and then returning the stolen loot? Doesn't sound very romantic to me…" Franky mumbled doubtfully.

So Robin. Zoro always knew that there was something going on between the cyborg and the dark woman, he just never thought Franky would be _so_ desperate that he was actually asking a _teenager_ for love tips. Seriously, who would expect someone like Ussop to give feasible advice on going after women? Either Franky was insanely in love, or he was just insane.

"I can't believe I'm actually gonna do this." Inside the factory the cyborg was still talking, "Well I guess cook-bro's success really gets you thinking! Huh?"

The cook's _success_? On_ what_? Zoro subconsciously tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword as bitterness and anger rose in him. The only thing that dart-brow ever succeeded was to make a complete fool of himself around women. Why was Franky talking like Nami was Sanji's girlfriend? They just made some food together and it didn't mean anything!

By this point, a part of Zoro really wanted to barge in and tell the cyborg to cut the crap, but his track was stopped when he heard Ussop making a somewhat similar statement—

" Sanji's success? What are you talking about? It's more like _my_ success cuz I totally made that happen!"

"Really? It was _you_ who fixed up cook-bro and Nami-sis?" Franky wondered, as if finally beginning to see the silver lining of Ussop's rose plan.

"That's right, my friend! Love Expert Ussop always knows best! Want your girl problem fixed? You know who to come to!"

The complacent long nosed boy was striking a very majestic Sogeking pose when he saw a flash of light flashing before his eyes. Next thing he knew, the point of Zoro's Black katana Shusui was inches away from his nose tip.

"Z-Zoro!" the poor boy's face blanched with fear." What are you doing here? W-why are you pointing your sword at me, buddy? I'm scared!"

"Franky, you mind if I have a little talk with Ussop? _Alone_?" the swordsman's voice was low and dangerous.

0-0-0-0-0

After Franky had left, Zoro sheathed his sword. Afer all, he didn't want Ussop to wet his pants before the poor kid spat out all the answers he needed.

"Sit." he demanded, eyeing a wooden stool closest to the door.

Ussop was trying his very best not to fall apart under Zoro's intimidating gaze, as well as inwardly cursing Franky for fleeing and leaving him alone with a very scary swordsman.

"You're not going to hurt me, right Zoro?" He asked in a trembling voice as he slowly sat himself down on the stool.

"That depends." The swordsman informed him matter-of-factly. "We're gonna talk and you're gonna tell me everything you know. As long as it goes well, nobody gets hurt. Got it?"

Ussop suppressed a whimper of fear and nodded his head fiercely.

"Now, I want you to repeat every word that shitty cook ever said to you about—"Zoro briefly looked away before he continued. "About Nami."He stressed the last word of his sentence in a rather uncomfortable manner.

"Eh?" Ussop blinked twice as if he couldn't understand the request. "…but Sanji never talked to me about Nami."

"You need some trigger to your memory?" Zoro asked placing a hand on the hilt of his sword.

"No I mean it Zoro! It wasn't Sanji! It was Nami who came to me for advice! "Ussop burst out in a panic."The other day she was suddenly very weird and talking about you and heartbreakers and anger management and stuff…so I figured she might have a thing for you. You know, with all the jokes and rumors we made about you two, maybe she's started to feel things. Girls are like that sometimes. But then I remembered how much you hated this stuff, so I took care of it. I told her if she ever wants a boyfriend—don't go to Zoro, Sanji is clearly the safer bet. "

Ussop paused for a second; momentarily forgetting he was supposed to be afraid of Zoro right now. "Well I guess it's a good thing that Love Expert Ussop knows how to handle the situation, right?" he looked up expectantly at his green-haired friend as he suggested. "Uh, you are welcome?"

"Let me get this straight, "the swordsman—who on the other hand, didn't look very grateful at the moment—said through clenched teeth."Just because you dated this _one_ girl by mail you think you are _so_ good at relationship stuffs that you have to jeopardize mine?"

" …WHAT? "Ussop's mouth fell open. "You have a relationship with—with _Nami_?"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Sorry if that was another abrupt halt. (That sounds familiar…) I think I might have fallen ill with an I-can't-write-over-2000-words-or-I-will-die disease.<strong>

**Anyway, this chap is kinda rush. I'm sure there're lots of grammar errors. I'd appreciate it if you start by telling me where I did wrong.**

**R & R, people~~! See you next time~.**

**Minami**


	9. Chapter 9: Let's steal

Chapter 9:Let's steal

Last time:

"Just because you dated this _one_ girl by mail you think you are _so_ good at relationship stuffs that you have to jeopardize mine?"

"WHAT? You have a relationship with—with _Nami_?"

0-0-0-0-0

Awkward silence filled the room.

For a long moment, both boys remained still staring at each other's stunned faces, respectively wishing they could take back what they had just said.

Ussop was on the brink of a panic attack. He should have known better! Of course Zoro was involved with Nami! What else could be the reason he broke in with a sword in hand looking like he was about to chop somebody into pieces? Zoro never cared about gossips, unless someone that mattered to him was mentioned.

And that "someone", was Nami—now that he knew, Ussop wanted to bang his head into the wall. How could he be so stupid? He'd just unknowingly admitted that he was the one who misguided Nami's feelings and made her turn to Sanji!

Clearly, this was gonna be the death of him. He could only hope that a proficient swordsman like Zoro would make it quick so that he wouldn't feel too much pain—bringing up a hand to cover his eyes, the poor long-nosed boy thought in despair.

But strangely, Ussop's doom never befell him. He peeked through his trembling fingers at the swordsman in front of him—

Well Zoro didn't look too mad, which was a good sign. Instead, there was a bewildered look on his face as he opened his mouth to talk:"It's not a ….I didn't mean…dammit I don't even know what it was with that woman!"

"Z-zoro?" Ussop warily called. Now Zoro looked angry, but more likely with himself.

The swordsman ran his fingers roughly through his green hair and then released a frustrated sigh, "It doesn't matter now. Whatever it was, it isn't anymore." He said in an almost inaudible voice.

"Ano…" Ussop knew he was gonna regret saying this, but the words just came out:" You wanna talk about it, Zoro? "

0-0-0-0-0

"This is bad. This is REALLY BAD."

After the swordsman had done talking, the self-proclaimed love expert concluded with all the negativity in his nature. "You dumped her, Zoro! Of all the girls in the world you have to go and dump _Nami_? I can't even begin to tell you how bad it is! Now she must really hate you! I don't think she will EVER forgive you for that!"

"Way to cushion it, Ussop. You do remember I slice up people for a living, don't you?" the swordsman gave Ussop a very threatening look before he continued. "Now fix this."

"Eh? How should I fix it? It is beyond repair!"

"And whose fault is that?"

Ussop wanted to say "yours", but under Zoro's intimidating gaze he had no choice but to cave. "…mine?"

He then contemplated the swordsman's request for a moment. "Uh… what do you want me to do? You want me to talk to her? Tell her that you wanna get back with her?"

"No!" the swordsman objected instinctively. The edges of his ears were turning suspiciously pink. "That would make me look like an idiot!"

Ussop rolled his eyes. "Then how? Enlighten me, genus. "

His sarcasm earned him a death glare from the swordsman. He signed, "Look, the real question is, Zoro, do you really want her back? If you don't, I can't help you. I can't be the cause of one of my friends hurting another just because he is too stupid to figure out what he truly wants. Nami may act mean sometimes, but she's a nice girl at heart. She deserves someone who'd know how lucky he is if he's to be with her. "

Zoro was simultaneously annoyed and impressed. He hated that Ussop now really sounded like a love expert—when he was being this serious Zoro couldn't even threaten him with his swords. But on the other hand, he had to admit that Ussop was right. The boy might act a liar sometimes, but he did know when to tell the truth.

Yes Nami could be a handful—Zoro knew that better than anyone else did. But he also knew how much fun it was to actually be with her. He remembered those times she drove him nuts, as well as the countless times that she made him laugh. He then remembered his heart gave a painful throb when he saw her together with Sanji. He kept telling himself there was nothing going on between her and that love-cook, but what if he was wrong? What if there was?

What if she finally decided that he was no boyfriend material while Sanji was clearly, as Ussop had stated, "a safer bet"? What if he woke up the next morning and found out she was already another man's girl? Would he be able to accept that? Would he be able to stand by and watch her happily holding some lucky bastard's hand, knowing that lucky bastard could have been him if he hadn't been such an idiot and messed things up?

Zoro didn't realize he had been holding back his breath until he felt his chest hurt. He exhaled heavily. His vision suddenly became crystal clear.

"I want her back." He told Ussop, stressing every word of his with an air of certainty. "And I'm going to have her back. Nami is my girl. No love-cook in the world can steal her away from me."

"Now you're talking!" Ussop grinned, patting the determined swordsman on the shoulder. "I'm so proud of you, buddy~~but not as much as of myself! Do you see it? This is what I do! I inspired you, Zoro!"

Pointing a thumb into his skinny chest, the long nosed boy continued in a melodramatic tone. "First Franky, and now you? Woah~I'm on fire tonight! You guys just can't get anywhere without the help of your Great Love Expert Ussop! Well, as much as I hate to be the puppet master of the group, I guess I can think of some way to get Nami to talk to you—"

An extremely horrified expression took over Zoro's features. It was not until this moment that he realized what he had been doing here. Crap, he was Franky! He was asking for love tips from _Ussop_ and pathetically hoping the boy would be of help!

What had he thought of Franky just then? Oh right, _Either the guy was insanely in love, or he was just insane_.

So this could mean…he was hopelessly, undeniably and madly in love-with that devil woman.

"Oh crap."bringing up a hand to his forehead, Zoro glanced at Ussop from the corner of his good eye. "You're not gonna make me steal from Robin's flower bed too, are you?" he asked, desperately holding onto his last pittance of pride.

"Or better—"Ussop smiled a mischievous smile as he answered the swordsman. "Let's steal from your girl."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Ma~ma~I know my update is short, the thing is I want to at least upload something before I go travelling.<strong>

**To Lotus Flower and marion: Sorry for keep you guys waiting. I actually know what I'm going to write, but I've been having problems putting it into actual words( I mean actual _English_ words:P)**

**And a big THANKS to my other sweet reviewers! Pls don't forget to R & R this super short chappie:)**

**Minami**


	10. Chapter 10: Confession

Chapter 10 : Confession

Ten days later—

"By the time I count to three, some of you better start talking." Nami threatened as she looked around the entire galley, her angry gaze successively scanning each face of her crewmates'—needless to say, a certain swordsman was ignored. By now Nami had become quite good at this "you are dead to me and I can't even look at you in the eye" practice.

"WHO. DID. IT? "She asked through clenched teeth.

"Yeah! Which one of you bastards stole Nami swan's mikans? Step forward and get ready to have your ass kicked!" Sanji echoed, defending one of his Goddesses and then soothing his other. "I'm certainly not addressing these harsh words to you, my dearest Robin chwan~~"

It was about a week ago when Nami found odd things happened to her orchard. At first she thought maybe a seabird flew by and accidentally knocked off one or two of her mikans. But the quantity continued to decrease. By day seven she was certain that at least 20 were missing. The message was clear: somebody on this ship had the gut to steal from her.

And that _somebody_, was going to pay. Nami looked pointedly at a certain crew member as she warned:" He'd better come clean _right now—_before I get too mad."

"Hey! It's not me!" Luffy cried out. Even a simple minded creature such as him could feel all suspicious eyes were casted on him. "Nami promised me I can have some once her mikans are mellow! Why would I go steal? It's not like I miss being beaten up by her, you know!"

"Maybe we are judging Captain san too fast." Robin kindly put in. "After all, he has been very well behaved these days. I believe he knows better than to depredate Navigator san's most precious possession. "

"Sorry Luffy. I guess I just think of you first whenever there is food involved. "Nami apologized. Robin was right. Even Luffy knew better than to mess up with her mikans. The thief, whoever he was, had some real guts!

"Remember, nobody steals from the Cat Burglar and gets away with it. " She declared to the crew in a soft, yet fearsome voice," When I find out who did this, he is going to be in serious trouble."

0-0-0-0-0

Nami was not the kind of girl who was only capable of barking empty threats. On the very same day that she interrogated her crewmates, she went up to her orchard after night fell.

She was determined to catch the thief by her own fair hand. To make sure of that, she even brought her little helper.

"I'm glad I can be of help, Nami, but I'm not really comfortable that you are using me like a sniffing dog…" the reindeer doctor protested in a timid voice.

"Alright, Chopper~~ "Nami keeled down and quickly pecked on the reindeer's blue nose."Be a good boy and start sniffing!"

"Does she even listen when people are trying to talk to her…." Chopper gloomily whispered to himself, but did what he was asked nonetheless.

After a short moment, the sensitive-nosed reindeer announced with certainty:" I think I smell Ussop's gunpowder, and—and the smell of steel. "

0-0-0-0-0

Hours later; in the orchard—

"Would you NOT do that, Zoro?" Ussop chided in a hushed voice, "If you use your sword Nami would know immediately it's you!"

"I thought the point is to let her know it's me!"The swordsman barked back as he reluctantly sheathed his sword. He just didn't get it. Why the hell did he have to pick off the mikans by hand when he had a very handy tool such as a sword (or three)?

"SHHHH!" Ussop shushed him as he cautiously looked around. He then argued back, trying to keep his voice down in the process. "Yeah, but she doesn't need to know I'm on this too! I figured she still has feelings for you, so she _probably_ won't kill you. But me? No thanks~~I refuse to sacrifice my life just for the sake of your little love-hate melodrama!"

"…you think she still has feelings for me?" the swordsman asked as he casually peeled one mikan and threw one segment into his mouth.

"Dude, you should really listen to yourself right now. You are totally infatuated with her, aren't you?" Ussop said teasingly and then thought aloud. "I wonder what she's done to you…she's GOOD~I gotta say."

"Thanks, Ussop."

A female voice rose. The sharpshooter almost jumped out of his skin. "Na-nami! You're here!"

Zoro felt a lump forming in his throat as he watched the orange haired girl slowly walking out of the shade of her mikan trees. Tonight's pale moonlight enveloped her slender body. Her face shimmered with suppressed anger.

_So this is it. _He thought to himself, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Ussop, I'm seeing red right now." Putting both hands on her hips, Nami stated in an overly calm tone.

Ussop yelped, pointing an accusing finger at Zoro: "_He_ made me do this!"

Nami's face twitched a little. For a briefest moment, her eyes turned from Ussop and met Zoro's.

The long-nosed boy seized this as a golden chance to flee. "SO GOOD LUCK WITH IT ZORO LET ME KNOW HOW IT WORKS OUT BYE!" He yelled at one burst before dashing away.

Nami didn't move an inch. She could easily murder Ussop any other time. Right now, she was busy shooting daggers at the green haired man standing in front of her. What amazed her most, was that he didn't even look guilty.

"I should kill you. "She began, her eyes icy cold, her voice low and firm. "But I despise you too much to do so." She spun on her heels and began walking away. "Knock yourself out. I don't even care."

Whatever Zoro had expected Nami to react, this sure was not it. In an act of desperation, he lifted his arm and threw the half-eaten mikan at her.

Perhaps he exerted his strength a little bit too much. The mikan hit her in the back, splashing like a smashed tomato.

"Ouch!" Nami screamed. Her hand stretched out backwards and felt the sticky texture on her bare lower back. Realizing what he had used to attack her, she turned around, eyes burning with fury.

"Changed your mind?" Zoro asked, folding his arms in a defiant manner.

"You are _so_ dead." Nami whispered. In the next second she launched out at him, hitting him for all she was worth. "I! HATE! YOU!"

Zoro did the only thing he was allowed to whenever Nami physically abused him or any other member of the crew—he let her. Several moments after, he found himself heavily pinned into the ground, with her on top of him straddling his legs, her both hands strangleholding his neck.

"Like you haven't done enough!" She screamed. "How dare you steal from me, you big big jerk!"

"So what? You stole from me first!" He managed to shout back in the midst of suffocation.

"HA?" The accusation was so out of the blue that Nami had to stop her attack to ask him. "What the heck are you talking about? When did _I_ steal from _you_?"

"You stole my heart." Zoro said.

Nami was stunned. She was still sitting on him in a very bullying fashion. Time seemed to freeze.

There was a long awkward moment of silence before she found her voice back, during which time Zoro truly wished the deck could open a crack and swallow him up. "_Who_ taught you this?" she asked.

_Crap, is it that obvious? _Zoro could feel his face heated with embarrassment as he reluctantly gave the answer. "…Ussop."

"No wonder it's so lame." Nami grimaced and brought a hand up to her forehead to literally wipe off the sweat drops there. "How he got himself a girlfriend in the first place I'll never know."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Zoro agreed. "I guess This is what happens when you write too many love letters."

"Shut up! I'm still mad at you!" Nami glared at him. This wasn't right! They weren't supposed to chat like friends!

By this point Zoro had sat up. With Nami still straddling his legs, their position had somehow changed into an intimate one.

"This may sound crazy," he began, looking seriously into her round amber eyes. "But I think I kinda miss being beaten up by you."

"Why are your lips still moving? I said shut up! We are NOT talking!" She hit him on the shoulder again, but this time with less force.

Zoro couldn't help a small smile formed in the corner of his lips. Only Nami could be this unreasonable and cute at the same time. She was still acting all bitchy right now, but he knew her well enough to tell that her angry exterior had begun to flake off.

"Well then, I can think of some better use of my lips." He informed her. Then he leaned in. Before the girl sitting on him could react in any fashion, his lips enthusiastically found hers.

Nami tried to pull back at first, but Zoro wouldn't let her. His arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders, holding her right there.

When their lips finally parted, Nami's face was flushed and she was panting slightly.

"You taste like mikan…" She murmured, her forehead still barely touching his. But she didn't seem to mind. "You ate my mikans. I should charge you millions for that."

Scratching the back of his head uneasily, Zoro confessed. "Actually, I don't know what else to do with them. I can't keep stocking them in my bunk without rolling over and smashing them in my sleep. Chopper would find out in no time. And that tangerine smell just keeps reminding me of—"he stopped. She squeezed his arm. "_What_?"

"They remind me of how you would smell and taste. And I miss that. "He admitted, looking at her pretty face intently. " I miss_ you_."

Nami's tongue darted out, licking her kiss swollen lips. The small act made Zoro want to kiss her all over again. "…Ussop taught you this too?" she asked in a somewhat nervous voice, her eyes flickering with uncertainty.

"Nah. " Zoro shrugged. "That was just me."

He didn't get to say anything more. Grabbing the front of his shirt, Nami pulled him to her. Again their lips crushed into each other's in a fit of longing and passion. He knew it was her way of saying "I miss you too".

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Does anybody have any idea how frustrated it feels when most of your readers know EXACTLY what you're gonna write? T_T...<strong>

**Anyways, I'm glad that I finished this chap in such a short time. Now I just have one chapter left! Yay~! Maybe I can finish the whole story before I go travelling ! (Maybe not...but there's hope.)**

**Tell me what you think of this chap. Is it an overdose of sappy sweetness? :)**

**Minami**


	11. Chapter 11:You stole my heartLiterally!

Chapter 11

He woke up in the midst of tangerine scent, feeling boneless and completely satisfied.

Maybe his love expert deserved a little thank-you note. Well, fairly speaking, that line Ussop had taught him was purely idiotic; but for what it's worth it worked and somehow made Nami forgive him.

_So maybe girls like you being idiotic, as long as you are sweet. _Zoro thought half-heartedly as he put his pants and boots back on. Standing up, he looked around for his shirt, only to find it gone, along with the girl who he had just spent the last two hours with.

"Nami?" he called out, slowly walking out of the corner they had snuggled in. Was it possible that she felt self-conscious after what they had done and ran off—while holding his shirt hostage?

He shook his head and chuckled quietly to himself. _That cute little thief._ She was so gonna get it.

Never in his life before had he described something or someone as "cute" (not even in his head). Chopper was a close one. That little guy possessed some sort of childlike quality that he sometimes found quite endearing, but even so he never called him cute.

Nami was different, though. She used to be this hot-tempered, foul-mouthed, money-obsessed friend of his and he gotta admit he was never her biggest fan, but now all he could think about was how cute she was when she was in his arms responding to all his kisses and touches.

Like Ussop had said, he was indeed infatuated with her, wasn't he?

Zoro's eyes lit up the moment he walked out of the orchard and saw Nami sitting on Sunny's railing, with her feet dangling outwards and her head raised up towards the moon. A dark green shirt covered her bare shoulders.

She looked so angelic in the serene moonlight. He didn't realize he was smiling as he silently approached her.

"There you are." He suddenly embraced her from behind, and when she didn't appear the slightest of shock, he whispered panting a kiss on the back of her ear. "You look great in my shirt."

"This is an ugly shirt. I made it work." Nami stated in a plain tone, her posture stiffening under his touch. But Zoro didn't seem to mind. Holding her closer, he continued to nibble her earlobe and her jaw line. However, when his lips moved to her left cheek he tasted something damp and salty.

"Nami?" he stopped his kiss, slightly pulling pack so that he could see her face. "Are you…crying?" his hand held out, touching the tearstains on her cheek. She brushed him off.

"I'm so screwed." She murmured. From the pale moonlight Zoro could see her eyes were red and puffy. There was no mistake she had been crying. But the reason as to _why_ she had been crying was beyond him. If anybody asked him he'd say he was in a fairly good mood tonight, he had just got back with his girl and they had just made love under the shade of mikan trees. Everything seemed right in their places. What was to cry about?

"Hey, hey, what happened?" as he asked he tried to wrap his arm around her shoulder, but again she brushed him off.

"We shouldn't have done that." She said bitterly.

"Done what?" he asked confused.

"_That_! Use your head, Zoro!" she raised her voice angrily. Her face reddened. "I never wanted to do it with you again! Not like that! I even swore on my super expensive Doskoi Panda dress and now? I can't believe I'm so stupid and weak that I let myself slide back to square one!"

Tears were now cascading down her cheeks like a mini waterfall. Zoro could only stare with his tongue tied. He didn't know what to think or how to react. He was never one good at handling crying girls.

"What are you talking about, woman?" He tried to make conversation, still clueless. "What panda dress?"

"That's NOT the point!" Nami screamed, throwing both arms into the air in a huff.

Then something clicked in Zoro's mind. She said they shouldn't have done what they had done, which could imply …

"…Was I bad?" he asked in a nervous voice, and was obviously embarrassed by the question himself, scratching the back of his head uneasily.

For a short moment Nami was taken aback.

"NO~~~~!" Then she yelled, her face turning a deep shade of red.

_Woah that's a relief. _"Then why are you regretting this?"

"BAKA! You are _hopeless_!" she cried even harder.

"Just—stop with the tears already!" he demanded, rubbing his temples as he could feel his head was about to explode. "I can't think seeing you like this!"

"They won't stop! They just keep coming!" she sobbed, fanning her face rapidly with both hands. As if to prove her words, more tears kept rolling down.

"Well do something!" he yelled.

"_You_ do something!" she yelled back.

He sighed in frustration. This was ridiculous. They just had what he'd like to call the most amazing makeup sex and now she was crying like a 7 year old little girl who'd just lost her favorite doll. He didn't understand. Something just didn't add up. For once in his life he wished he could at least try to grasp a little knowledge on how women's brains functioned. Because obviously they were so freaking weird and… different!

Letting out another sigh Zoro reached out, closing the distance Nami had just created between them. He held her tight, almost pressing her face into his chest. He didn't give a damn if she decided to blow her nose on his bare flesh or do something even less hygienic. If this could stop her from crying so be it.

"I'll buy you another panda something dress so just stop the tears for God's sake!" He growled.

For a second her sob actually seemed to stop. But much to his dismay it resumed in almost not time. "Don't say impossible things!" she chided, poking him in the chest. "You still owe me money!"

"Then WHAT? You tell me, woman!"

Nami lifted her head to face the agitated man. He was utterly desperate now. Seeing Zoro in such a defeated state somehow made her realize that although he _was_ stupid and insensible in some way, he truly cared when she was upset.

Maybe she should let him off the hook this time.

"I'm only gonna say this once, Zoro—"she began, wiping off the tears with the back of her hand. "Next time I cry, you just hold me and kiss me until I calm down."

"That's it?" Zoro blinked. That's all he needed to do? Women are, like he said, really really weird sometimes!

"_That,_ I can do." He tightened his arms around her waist and leaned down to place a kiss on the top of her head. Umm…although her crying was starting to get annoying, her hair smelled wonderfully soothing.

"…and then the next day you buy me something pretty." She added, her voice somewhat childlike.

A part of Zoro wanted to point out the fact that he still owed her money, but he knew better than to ruin this rare peaceful moment with her.

He held Nami for long enough, which felt like a century to him but in actuality he assumed it was about 3 or 4 minutes. The girl in his arms gradually cooled off, but still gave a light sob from time to time.

She needs some distraction, Zoro thought. A good one. And quick.

"Uh…"He cleared his throat, "wanna hear something funny?"

Nami looked up at him slightly surprised. Was Zoro trying to make a joke to cheer her up?

"…Okay." She nodded.

"That idiotic cook—" he said. "once did it in the kitchen."

"What? Our kitchen? No way!" Nami inhaled, instantly forgetting how upset she was a moment before. "It's GROSS! That's where people eat!"

"That's what I said!" Zoro laughed. So saucy gossip—he wasn't proud of it but whatever, it worked. She was successfully distracted and Mr. Ero-cook could bid farewell to his pretentious gentleman image.

"Speaking of the kitchen—"said Nami. "I'm hungry." Almost at the same time her stomach let out an unhappy growl.

Zoro smiled: "Let's go get some food." giving her butt a playful slap, he then grabbed her wrist and led her downstairs to the galley.

"Just you know, I'm still mad at you." Nami reiterated as she followed his lead. "And I still haven't forgiven you."

"Fine by me. Take your time holding a grudge, woman." Zoro shrugged. What she just said wasn't really convincing. He and she both knew she couldn't stay angry with him for too long.

0-0-0-0-0

One thing good about having Nami at his side was that he could now have free access to the cook's fridge.

"Lemme see…is this ok?" After handing Nami a little jar of yogurt Zoro kept digging inside the fridge.

Nami wrinkled her nose displeased. "Can't I have something low-fat?" despite her whining she tore open the lid and started licking on it.

"Wait a minute, what the hell is this?" Zoro suddenly said. He was looking at a bento box placed right in the middle. Its lid was transparent so he could see what was inside.

"Oh that." Nami didn't sound too surprised. "Sanji kun kept it there. He said it means the world to him since it's a memento of our, well, collaboration of love." She said casually, giving a shrug.

Zoro stared at the stupid box and its ever so stupid content. A green heart lied in there, as if to mock him. Yes, GREEN HEART. It looked so green and he'd never seen anything greener in his life.

"That crap cook." He cursed under his breath. And before Nami could register what had happened, he swiftly opened the box and threw the mochi right into his mouth.

"Zoro!" Nami screamed, grabbing his upper arm and shaking him violently. "What are you doing? That thing has been there for almost two weeks! Spit it out! You'll get food poisoned!"

"At least I deserve to have a taste—"Zoro's reply was sorta muffled by the act of chewing. "Since my girlfriend did half the work!"

"What?" Nami was stunned. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "…what did you say? Did you just call me…your girlfriend?" her grip on his arm tightened, to an extent that it actually began to hurt. But it wasn't Zoro's biggest concern at the moment.

"Yeah. I think I just did." He swallowed down the mochi and looked away. The edges of his ears were feeling incredibly hot as he shoot back a question. "You got a problem with that, woman?"

Nami had to blink three times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. So this was real. Zoro was blushing and referring to her as "his girlfriend".

"Wow…I …" she felt a lump in her throat and was having difficulty stuttering out any reply. There were too many feelings welling up inside her. She felt sweet, touched and yet vulnerable. She could almost burst into tears but she was too happy to do that.

"I don't." she finally said, smiling at him. "I don't have any problem with that, Zoro." She didn't bother to hide the affection in her eyes as she looked right into his good one, finding the same expression in there.

So they were boyfriend and girlfriend now. Zoro just gave a disgruntled grunt as some sort of reply, but she knew he was happy about it too.

"So? How did it taste? Good? "she looked at him expectantly.

"Uh, it was…okay. I mean good. Really. " To be honest, it tasted awful. Maybe it was kept in the fridge for too long or something, it just didn't taste like a normal mochi would do. But Zoro didn't plan on pissing his new girlfriend off by telling her the truth. Instead he polished it up a little bit; just to see that lovely smile of hers again.

And there she smiled. It was a genuine, heartfelt smile and it was so beautiful. He swore it was totally worth the lie. He couldn't help but to lean in and kiss her full on the lips.

Their kiss quickly turned from chaste to passionate, until Nami pulled back and said: "No, we can't do it here Zoro…"

"Yeah." He agreed, chuckling. "Cause we are better people than that love-cook." Then he reached out his arms, pulling the girl he loved into his chest once more.

0-0-0-0-0

"NO WAY~~~~!"

The next morning Sanji's hysterical yelling was bursting the crew's eardrums. "Where is my green heart? I remembered putting it RIGHT HERE! And the fridge was locked! How come it's gone? Nami san—" he turned abruptly to his beloved navigator, comical tears rolling down his cheeks. " I think you are right! There IS a shameless thief on our ship! That bastard must've broken into my fridge last night and stolen one of my most precious belongings just to hurt me! "

Nami bit back a snicker as she gave a quick once over to a certain swordsman who was currently snoring like a thunderstorm on deck.

"Oh, I'm sure he is indeed…uh, very shameless to have stolen from you, Sanji kun." She smiled at the cook sweetly, not missing a beat. "Who could've done something like that? It's horrible!"

"Well," upon hearing his goddess's comforting words, the cook seemed to cool down a little. "Good thing that I waxed that mochi. I was gonna make it more preservable but I guess it worked out just fine for that food-stealing bastard. I bet he's busy hovering on some toilet seat throwing up right now!"

"Hehe, I sure hope he is…" Nami believed if her fake laugh was to get any faker her face was gonna go numb. It seemed that her new boyfriend needed an appointment with Chopper!

-The end-

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: There you go. THE END. I can't believe I did it! Yay! It's finished!<strong>

**To all my dear readers: thank you for bearing with me for the last four months. (Yeah baby! It cost me FOUR MONTHS! Can you believe it?) I really hope that you enjoyed reading "A Beautiful Mess", or if you want to call it "A Mess", fine by me, muhahahahahaha!**

**Anyway, it's nice to be back on the reader's side! I WILL continue to write ZoroXNami fics (cuz I'm a crazed fan girl! what you gonna do about that? ;P) but I guess I'll take a rest from here and refuel.**

**Let me know what you think of the last chapter. At least tell me it's long.**

**So...R&R, people~~! (I'm so gonna miss yelling it to everybody's face, muhaha~)**

**See ya. XP**

**Minami**


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